Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
As per the solid waste reduction hierarchy, it's always best to reduce first, reuse as a second option, and then recycling as the last resort.
We're slowly poisoning the planet with our undesirable, wasteful habits. There are five trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean. Dead zones are expanding. And by 2040, our environmentally destructive habits will put the Mother Earth on an altered course of history that she won't be able to turn back from.
Couple of years back, our family very belated starting our 3Rs journey, but mainly stuck to recycling (always separating recyclable wastes from non-recyclables) and reducing (albeit for more the cost factor). And while my family's current participation rate of reuse is still stuck at my mum's prized collection of tupperwares, lock n lock, random 1.5L ice cream plastic containers, glass jam jars, and a never-ending supply of plastic carriers to be used as rubbish bags, I've actually went on to explore further on this 2nd "R" that has been very much neglected all these years.
So here's my humble list of items that I've made the switch from disposables to reusables (and loving it!). I'm not going to show the photos of my actual stuff, because.... well, you'll see.
1. Water Bottles
Using a water bottle is probably our very first step into adopting an environmentally friendly lifestyle (of reusing), albeit we all probably started off by trying to reuse the disposable plastic (PET) bottles until research studies started telling us not to (as they may leach toxic chemicals and DEHP).
Out of so many brands of water bottles I've used all these years, my favourite is probably water bobble, not really for the personal water filter feature, but for the overall lightweight and simple yet ergonomic design of the bottle. Although not very easy to clean, I'll still prefer my water bottle to have an easy-to-drink suction screw on cap instead of having to screw the lid open and drink from the rim like a cup. The former type is so much easier on my water breaks in the gym!
2. Lunch Boxes
As I always pack my
breakfast (pre-intermittent fasting days) mid-day snack and part of my lunch (the starchy carbs) to work, imagine how much plastic waste I'll be generating if I didn't choose to use reusable lunch boxes. Will definitely prefer these boxes with separated compartments for my used-to-be-breakfast-and-now-afternoon-snack, which typically consist of either a hardboiled egg, weetbix biscuit and fresh fruits, or a PB&J sandwich with fresh fruits. Having mushy weetbix biscuits due to moisture from the fresh fruit is a definite turn-off for me. I love my weetbix absolutely DRY and CRISPY.
As for the starchy carbs (typically brown rice or sweet potatoes, but sometimes quinoa or multigrains too) for lunch, I will prefer to keep them in a food jar tumbler instead. It doesn't really keep them warm until my lunchtime, and I don't need my complex carbs to be warm either (eating your starchy carbs cold increases the resistance starch). It's more for the ease to carry it out for lunch that matters.
3. Reusable Grocery Bags
I got my first reusable grocery bag from my mum (when she received a few during Teacher's Day) a couple of years back and it has been in my bag ever since, where ever I go. The few times I've accepted a plastic bag for my purchase was because I went totally crazy with snacks-shopping and my purchases can't fit into my reusable bag. HAHA!
But I have to say, our eco-friendly culture/awareness is really not there yet. Many times, I need to specially request (and strongly insist) that the cashier place ALL my purchases (regardless "dry" or "wet") into my grocery bag, and some of them even insist on placing the "wet" stuff in their plastic bag before putting it into my grocery bag. *facepalm*
4. Coffee Cups/Tumblers
I used to get a cuppa kopi-c kosong from Toast Box every single working morning, until the kopi xiaodi (I reckon he is at least a couple years younger than me?) will automatically proceed to prepare a cuppa kopi-c kosong the very moment he sees me stepping into Toast Box, just in time to place it right in front of me on the counter, sometimes even before I made my order.
Yeah, quick service is definitely an understatement here.
Do you know that the take-out paper cups are not recyclable due to the plastic lining added? So, to all you fellow coffee addicts out there, it's really high time you bring-your-own-cup when getting your daily coffee-to-go.
5. Metal Straws
I don't think I need to tell you anymore about the notoriety of plastic straws. There's a few types of reusable straws in the market right now. Metal, glass, silicone and tritan. Apparently, tritan tends to get cloudy upon frequent contact with citrusy drinks, so if you're an orange juice lover, you might want to consider other materials instead.
6. Cloth Pads & Period Underwears
(the reason why I'm not showing actual photos. HAHAHA!)
I own a few pairs of thinx and modibodi, and while I can't really feel much difference between the two, in terms of their function as a "sanitary pad" (eg, quick absorption, odour control etc), I do prefer Thinx over Modibodi as the former somehow fits better and is more comfortable to wear.
However, there's always a fear of leaking due to heavy flow (we can't possible bring another piece of underwear out and change out of a used pair, right?), which got me exploring cloth pads!
As cloth pads do not rely on adhesive material to stay on our underwear, I will not fear damaging my (not very cheap) period underwears if I choose to "layer on" an extra protection on my heavy flow days. But after switching to working from home, I've tried relying on just one heavy/overnight flow underwear for the entire day and they actually hold up!
Contrary to popular beliefs, keeping your used cloth pads sitting around in your bag for half the day will NOT stink out your bag because the used pad typically will not emit the horrible "period blood" stink like those disposable pads do. Apparently, it's the material of those disposable pads that develop the smell upon long hours of contact with our period blood, so do not worry about experiencing the same with cloth pads! However, do expect some smell (though not as bad as disposable pads when worn for the same time) from the period underwear due to much longer hours of wearing (eg. mixing in with perspiration etc).
7. Food Grade Silicone Covers
(Reusable "Cling Wrap")
This is something that my mum and I has abandoned after trying out a set I've purchased on taobao. Not exactly sure if it's because I chose a badly made one, or are they just
not supposed to easily fit all sorts of bowls/containers like cling wrap does.
If you've a set that works well (eg. really do stretch out over the bowls easily), do let me know in the comment section below!
8. Reusable Cotton Pads/Facial Puffs
Initially, I just chose to stop using cotton pads to put on toner, using my hands instead. That kinda worked out fine, until I switched to micellar water (from Pond's Cold Cream) as my make up remover. It's IMPOSSIBLE to use micellar water make up remover without a cotton pad, and that's when I decided to get one. I actually chose the fluffy facial puff (1st picture), not because they look prettier, but they can also double up as a face cleansing "brush" in the showers. And with a hanging hook already sewn into the side of the puffs, air-drying them out is so much easier compared to the smaller cotton pads.
And so, here's the 8 (or 7, actually) things that my family and I have (almost) completely switched out from disposables.
How about you?
Till then,
Mia Foo
